Easy Korean Academy — Attraction in Seoul

As it had been many years since I first began my Korean studies, I needed to find an objective way to gauge my language level. (In the interim period, I'd been studying Korean mostly casually and when I had time, but not consistently). I looked around for Korean classes in the Seoul area that were accessible from my location and affordable.

All the university-based classes I found, including one I could have literally walked to, were extremely expensive and way beyond what I had in mind to spend. I narrowed down my list to a couple of Korean hagwons (academies) that seemed affordable and very highly reviewed on Google. One I reached out to, however, was a bit slow in responding to my inquiries via email (you snooze, you lose!), and it was only after this experience that I did a second search and found Easy Korean Academy.

To my relief, the trip by subway for me would be just roughly half an hour, the price for one month of classes was very affordable per hour when I did the math, and amazingly, the reviews for EKA were even higher than the ones I previously looked at, including renowned university-based Korean language classes. Moreover, when I reached out to an EKA administrator, they were extremely fast to respond, even though on that particular day, they were about to close. The admins kindly answered all my questions, and I was able to set up a time to come in person and take their placement test.

Since beginning classes at EKA, I have grown confident in my choice of this Korean language academy, week by week. My Korean instructor, Ms. Ahreum Cho (조아름 선생님), has been an engaging teacher and is very inclusive in allowing all of us to have a chance to speak up and share in the classroom. She plans great and helpful interactive activities (small group/partners), not just reading conversation scripts. She is demanding in the output she expects and the homework she assigns, but she is very fair and extremely helpful in providing both written and spoken feedback during class and on written assignments, which I find to be a key benefit in taking these group classes over self-study since it can be much more difficult to self-correct.

The pacing of the class is fast but manageable. Three hours (plus a break in the middle) goes by so quickly! Also, Ms. Cho often shared her topic-relevant, real-life experiences in Korean with us, which allowed us to understand a certain word, phrase, grammar or cultural point with far greater relatability and practicality.

Also, this is a small thing maybe, but I find that the class schedule days for the regular classes were so well thought out (we meet M/T/R/F). As a former ESL teacher myself, I understand the importance of spacing out your studies to cultivate your long-term memory. Having Wednesdays off between 2 class days, with the weekend as another buffer, makes much more sense in terms of learning and building long-term memory than going to class Monday through Thursday. Even though that means you have to come in on every coveted 불금 ('fire Friday' in anticipation of the weekend ^^), in terms of learning, this makes the most sense to me.

All in all, it's clear that EKA has some amazing teachers (well, at least one for sure!) and staff, and they have been around for more than 2 decades as I understand, so they've had a lot of time to refine their program, syllabus and books (disclosure: I did find some spelling errors in their line of textbooks, but not too many).

I have just a few days left in my class, but already I believe I was able to achieve my month-end goal of evaluating my Korean language level, thanks to EKA. I've also met some wonderful fellow Korean language-learners from all over the world and a dedicated teacher of 한국어. I'd definitely recommend those with the means and time to...

While my stay in south korea I went to Easy Korean Academy for 3 months to take the levels 6-8 and can highly recommend it!

After a first consultation at the 학원 I took a level test at home followed by a short online speaking test.

The classes are 4 times per week from 10am-1pm and in groups up to 12 people at max. The rooms are super clean and well equipped! Per month the class will work through 5-6 chapters of the book series. Next to the book extra handouts are giving out and slowly worked through. Each chapter covers up to 3 different grammar points and a solid amount of new vocabulary.

When it comes to tests there is a bigger vocabulary exam at the end of the first week, which includes all new vocabulary of the last month. On top after a chapter is finished there will be a small vocabulary test of all the new words u learned the last few days. Finally at the end of the month there will be a 월말시험 covering all the learned words and grammar incl. a short speaking test with a different teacher. It surely sounds like a lot but it really helps with the learning process and can be passed with the right amount of effort!

In total I learned a lot and my speaking korean improved aswell! I was also able to meet a lot of new friends and have a great time!!

Special shoutout to my teachers (조아름, 미리, 정우진) who made my stay super fun and awesome! Soon I will try the online classes from my home country aswell to continue my learning...

Today I just finished my first month at Easy Korean Academy so I can only speak to that course. Our teacher was very good at teaching Korean rather than just covering content. What? Some teachers think that a lesson plan is just pages 1 to 5, then 6 to10, 11 to 15 and so on... ; without any concern if you learned anything. Our teacher went out of her way to make sure we were learning the grammar and vocabulary by forcing us to use it a lot during class. You might go to a Korean class where the teacher just talks the whole time and all you do is write notes. It’s great that the Korean teacher is awesome at Korean; but it really doesn’t help you. Not here. The teachers at Easy Korean Academy (and I’m not a bot), really go out of their way to teach you Korean. The supplementary material and activities our teacher provided were excellent and the Easy Korean book (again, not a bot) is perfectly structured.

The facilities and classrooms are excellent. The location is also good. Coming from near Children’s Grand Park; it takes about 35 minutes by...